Have Mind, Will Travel
by Mini Wolfsbane
Summary: Jean and Remy must go into Mollys own mind to free her from being trapped inside after becoming comatose, but have many obstacles to face. 34th story in a series. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:I don't own X-Men:Evolution, just myself (Called Molly Callum in 'fics.)  
and any original characters/background characters that might pop up from time to time.

AN: A little sexy part in this first chapter, but that's all. It gets a little grusome near the end too, but nothing horrible. Also, I've been trying to make Remy more "in-character", because I know sometimes he comes across as a bit OOC as Seruleyan-Wings pointed out to me. I don't know how well it comes across in this story, but in upcoming fanfics it comes through much better, I believe. Enjoy!

* * *

Things weren't going too well for Remy during the week. First he had to fix the engine on his car, then he found out Bobby had turned one his favorite shirts into nothing more then confetti with a prank gone badly. After that it was everything from getting the wrong order at Taco Hut to running out of ink in the pen while paying bills.

This morning though, all that was simple and inconsequential to what was happening presently. Molly had gotten knocked unconscious by a new kid Magneto had found. A very strong telepath that could do all kinds of things, including locking people inside their own minds in the astral plane. All this meant Molly wasn't going to just wake up on her own like the other thousand times she'd been unconscious. Jean was going to have to work hard to bring Molly back. They needed Molly for a recon mission to see what Magneto was up to. Word on the street was that he was planning to form an alliance with someone, but the X-Men didn't know who.

"It's going to be okay," Remy squeezed Molly's hand as he sat next to her in the infirmary, not sure if he was talking to comfort her or to comfort himself. He walked into the next room where Hank was outfitting Jean with wires and heart monitors to check her health as she prepared to make the trip inside Molly's mind. "I want to go with you. Please," Remy said, firm and unwavering.

Jean considered it for a moment. "I suppose you could, but you have to stay with me and don't make a mess of things."

"How could I make a mess of things? We're going to be on the astral plane, it's not even real," Remy said as he sat on the opposite bed, handling the wires with all the little sticky patches at the ends.

"It isn't real, but for what it's worth, we're going to be in a projection of Molly's mind. Something we can see, hear and touch, so we don't want to meddle where we aren't wanted," Jean explained, then laying back onto the bed and closing her eyes.

"I'll try to be very careful then," Remy lay back, relaxing. Before he knew it, he was unconscious, and the next second he was apparently standing next to Jean in a dark place. There was enough light to see around, but around them everything was black. As Remy glanced at the ground there was a reddish-pink fog surrounding their ankles.

"This is _it_?" Remy said incredulously as looked around feeling confused.

"It's just the beginning. Anyone's mind is a big place, like a maze," Jean said, "Just stay with me."

They walked forward and came to a wooden door that Remy was positive hadn't been there seconds before.  
Jean opened it and pleasant smells assaulted Remy's nose. Things like fresh bread, cherry ice cream and laundry detergent.  
When they walked inside, there were doors to the left and right of them with labels engraved in silver plating that said things like 'MEMORIES' or 'RANDOM THOUGHTS'. The doors were all plain brown wooden mundane doors, but what was inside them wasn't at all average or ordinary. The size was a little bigger then your average hallway,  
seemingly going only straight.

"What are we supposed to do?" Remy asked, looking at the doors with intense curiosity even though Jean had told him not to go messing about. He shoved his hands into his pockets, but it didn't stop the urge of wanting to grab a doorknob and fling it open just to see what was inside. It was the perfect opportunity to see how Molly's mind worked and just what was knocking around in her head. Anyone would be curious, it was only human nature.

"We'll just walk until we find Molly. I can't sense her inside her own head. I can't sense you either in here since we're not actually here, so that's why you have to stay with me. If you don't, your consciousness is going to get lost in here," Jean said.

"Well you could have told me that earlier," Remy's eyes widened, aggravated at Jean already.

"I didn't want to upset you," Jean started walking, her footsteps the only sound in the place.

"I was already upset," Remy griped, following behind her.

* * *

The two of them walked in silence for a long time. Remy kept looking around at doors. There were _so_ many.  
Rational and irrational fears, phobias, nervous ticks, bad habits, good habits, worries. Plus things like mental perception, body image and self-esteem. Concepts and feelings all clearly labeled, but more importantly, this was all one hundred percent Molly. All her thoughts, everything she was.  
Maybe Jean had been right, Remy didn't have any right to meddle and he could mess something up.  
Perhaps make Molly forget something important or make something worse.

...Or maybe make something better.

"So Jean," Remy said casually, "How does all this work? I mean, could I go inside a door and change a memory or erase some weird phobia that Molly has?"

"You can't _change_ memories. They're ingrained, like computer hardware. They are easily erasable if you're a good enough telepath. Phobias and things might be changeable, I'm not sure. The Professor and I never got that far in my training with the astral plane and how the brain works," Jean said.

While Jean was talking, Remy decided to sneak a peak into the room marked Self-esteem. He only wanted to look, not change anything (though in his opinion, it couldn't hurt to give Molly a confidence boost).

Inside everything was like a little control room. Each "tv" screen was black with a message in white letters. Things like "Not pretty enough", "Too fat", "Eats too much", and "Lazy" were on large screens. On much smaller ones were things like "Good artist", "kind", Good person" and "helpful". It didn't take a genius to figure out that the stronger, more dominant messages were the bigger ones, and the ones that were weaker we're smaller. It pained Remy to see Molly's mental image in such concrete, tangible form. He knew she had problems with how she thought of herself and how she saw herself, but he didn't realize how deep they ran. How serious they were.

"Remy!" Jean looked a perfect combination of angry and disappointed as she stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips and an intense, almost frightening glare.

"I didn't touch anything, I was just looking," Remy held up his hands like an innocent man caught in the middle of a bank robbery who had a weapon at his feet.

"I don't care. I told you that you need to stay with me and that it's important not to go poking around inside Molly's head!" Jean snapped.

"All right. Sorry," Remy said. He lead the way out of the room and Jean shut the door behind them.

"Um, so, do you think she could be in one of these rooms?" Remy asked.

"I don't think so. It would be too obvious," Jean observed, "She's probably somewhere else."

Remy didn't know what that meant since there were doors as far as the eye could see, but he went with it.  
There was a sudden left corner, signaling they were going deeper into Molly's mind. As they kept walking Jean started talking amidst all the silence. "What have you been up to lately?"

"The usual," Remy answered, "There really isn't anything new going on. You?"

"I received a B plus in my therapy course. Oh, I found out that my sister and her boyfriend are starting to get serious," Jean smiled.

"Um, good," Remy said, "We really haven't gotten to talk much lately with everything going on, have we?"

"No we haven't," Jean said. Remy considered the two of them friends. Not really close, but friends all the same.

"You know I used to have a little thing for you back in the day," Remy blurted out. What on earth made him say that?

"You did make it pretty obvious," Jean smiled, winking at him in a friendly manner.

"Always wondered why you were with Scott at first, but the more I got to know everyone, the more I could see how the two of you complimented each other in every way," Remy said.

"And what about you?" Jean asked, "Do you think that you and Molly compliment each other in every way?"

"Is this a therapy question?" Remy raised an eyebrow.

"It's just a genuine question. Your relationship is kind of funny. Different from everyone elses.  
Scott and I were friends before we dated. Kurt and Amanda barely knew each other. Lance and Kitty were rivals. You two seemed to hit it off from day one," Jean mused.

"Well it wasn't as easy as you make it sound," Remy said, "Which reminds me, if the situation is so dire why are we walking?"

"We don't know where were headed and we can't exert ourselves on the astral plane. The more mental energy we expend, the longer it will take because we'll just wear out and have to start the process over again because I'm not strong enough to be on the astral plane for more then a couple hours at a time. Since we're taking it slow that helps me," Jean said.

"Okay, I understand," Remy put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. That said, Remy realized that he needed to buckle down and not peek into every room he came across. Molly needed him and now was no time to goof off.

"So should we listen for her or just keep our eyes peeled?" Remy wondered.

"A bit of both," Jean said.

"Anyway, Molly and I do compliment each other I guess. We...we find strength in each other. I know it sounds corny, but it's true.  
She can count on me for support and I can always count on her to be there for me. And we're good at giving kicks in the pants when the other needs it," Remy laughed, thinking of the past few weeks as either he or Molly was depressed and the other had to work to get each other out of it. Neither would take no for an answer, so it was funny how determined they could both be.

"I know she's happy to have you," Jean said. The pair became quiet again.

They kept walking. "So you're not the least bit curious as to what's going on in Molly's head? You don't want to take a little peek in one of these rooms?" Remy smirked.  
"I'm curious, but not nearly as much as you are," Jean smirked back.

They looked around. Remy spotted a door marked fantasies. He couldn't resist smiling. He told Jean he would behave, but since when did he ever do half of what he said? He quietly walked over to the door and opened it silently, the only way an ex-theif knew how.

The room was decked out in passionate red. Maroon carpet, silky red sheets on the bed and red walls.  
There were only two occupants in the bed. Kissing. Kissing passionately. Remy watched 'his' hands slide up 'Mollys' bare stomach. His fantasy Doppelganger was only wearing black boxer shorts and Mollys fantasy self was wearing a white top, and a matching skirt with her belly exposed. Remy found himself practically drooling.  
"I'll always love you and no one else," Fantasy Remy said, "You make me feel so strong and manly."  
"Mmm...Remy...Remy...I wanna...mmmmm Remyyyy..." Fantasy Molly said. Remy had a big smile on his face. He always knew that Molly had these kinds of thoughts about him. It struck him as quite amusing. Of course, that didn't mean this wasn't fun to watch. It was _very_ fun.

"Remy!" Jean was furious this time.

"Shh," Remy kept watching the fantasy unfold, "It's just getting to the good part."  
That earned him a smack upside the head. "OW!" Remy said, "What? I couldn't help myself."

"You never can. Now let's go," Jean ordered.

"Fine," Remy grumbled, reluctantly leaving the door and all it contained.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer:I don't own X-Men:Evolution, just myself (Called Molly Callum in 'fics.)  
and any original characters/background characters that might pop up from time to time.

* * *

The two of them kept walking. "You hear that?" Jean turned her ear to listen carefully.  
It sounded like marching. "Where's it coming from?" Remy wondered. Quickly, they received an answer. Appearing, as transparent images, then more opaque as the seconds ticked away, were what looked like clones of Molly. All dressed up in warrior-like garb, chain mail and pleather, similar Xena: Warrior Princess,  
except with silver headbands. There had to be at least fifty of them, all lined up, marching straight at Jean and Remy.  
"Soldiers of the mind," Jean explained.

Remy silently admired the short, clanky metal skirts and thick knee high pleather boots.

"Get ready. We're going to have to do a little hand-to-hand. Our powers won't work on the astral plane," Jean said.

"Now you tell me," Remy's mouth almost fell open.

"Well I'm sorry if there wasn't time for a briefing!" Jean said, throwing a soldier into a wall. It disappeared on impact, shattering into "pixels".  
"If there trying to attack us, we must be getting close," Jean explained.

Remy started rapidly kicking, hitting and punching the "clones" into non-existence as he moved forward alongside Jean.  
They were disappearing quickly with a little more then just a jab. Remy wished he had his staff with him, but for now he would have to do without it. It was difficult trying to pay attention to every direction around him, but he swung behind,  
punched in front and to the sides, his body a whirlwind of movement. Remy couldn't pay much attention to Jean, but it was easy to tell that she was doing much the same. Jean's long hair swung around everywhere like a whip as she kicked and punched each imagined soldier.  
Each turn and jab she did made her swinging hair remind Remy of a roaring fire. Remy admired Jean for half a second. She wasn't just a prissy girl with looks and brains, but she could put up a good fight if the situation called for it. Remy thought she would have made a good thief back in the day and that they could have been a great team. (And perhaps something more) Too bad, really.

Remy noticed that the soldiers didn't seem to be letting up. They weren't limited to getting tired, just being projections.  
It wasn't that they kept coming, it was just so many. Too many to try to fight off between the two of them.  
The hordes of figures were rapidly ascending on them faster then the two of them could react. They were quickly being overcome to their dismay.

Then Kurt and Kitty came barging in the slightly-larger-than-hallway sized space, barreling through the soldiers like a ball making a strike in bowling.  
"What the-? What are you two doing here?" Jean was utterly shocked. "We wanted to help," Kitty smiled cheerily.  
"We begged _Herr McCoy_ to hook us up and help you two out," Kurt said.

"Uh, thanks," Remy said. The four of them looked around. With the surprise attack, all the soldiers had been demolished.  
Remy was a little worried now. This would mean even more people to look after, but to their credit, they probably wouldn't cause as much trouble as Remy since they weren't as curious as he was even though they had a connection to Molly, but it was much different then the one she and Remy shared.

"Alright," Jean announced, "Everyone try and stay with me. Don't touch anything and don't go poking around, unlike _some_ people."

"What were you doing poking around inside Molly's head?" Kitty laughed.

"_Nothing_," Remy said defensively, "I was just a little curious."

"A little?" Jean started walking again, "I keep having to drag you away from the doors!"

"Anyway," Kurt tried to quell the tension, "Do we have any idea where Molly might be?"

"Hold up," Remy realized something, "How can you guys even be here if you aren't telepaths?"  
Even Remy had a little bit of telepathy with his empathic powers, so that made it easier.

"Well we're hooked up to Jean's head and you don't need to be telepathic just to be on the astral plane," Kitty explained.

"She's right," Jean said as they kept walking, "Like I said before, we're only mental projections."

Suddenly the four of them noticed that things were growing darker, like the lights being dimmed in a movie theater.  
"Okay," Kurt said, "Something tells me we just crossed into that nightmarish part of Molly's head."  
"What was your first clue?" Kitty said sarcastically.

"I wonder what's in here?" Remy thought aloud. They had passed fears, phobias and the like a while back. So that left what exactly?  
Remy now took notice that the doors were gone. Everything around them was darkness. What looked like dead trees were starting to appear around them and beneath their feet, the "ground" was just hard gravel. The four of them just stood still, observing what their friends mind had suddenly become.  
Even the pleasant smells from earlier had disappeared. Instead it smelled like a cold winter night with not much to smell and frigid air. "I know it's...disturbing...but we have to keep going," Jean said.  
Very carefully they kept on walking. They walked for a few yards, coming upon nothing more then an old looking wooden sign.  
There was white lettering on it. There was just a single word: BEWARE!

* * *

The further they walked, the creepier things became. "I don't understand why this isn't just another room," Remy said.

"I think...I think the further we're walking, the deeper we're going into Molly's mind," Kitty observed.  
Of course she would understand, being a genius, "All the doors before were just the simple, up front stuff. The things she thinks about often and the parts of her brain that she uses a lot.  
We're probably hitting the part that she doesn't use or think about much. It could be the section of her brain that stores hate or something."

"If that were true that it wouldn't be so big," Remy smiled a little. He didn't think Molly had it in her to hate anyone. Molly seemed to like giving people the benefit of the doubt and she was generally sweet and nice to everyone. One of the kindest girls Remy had ever met. How could she hate anyone? How could she have dark thoughts as this part of her brain seemed to be portraying.

"Even the nicest person has the capacity for evil," Kurt said sadly.

"I guess," Remy said, "Except it _is_ Molly we're talking about. I just find it hard to believe she has an evil bone in her body."

"You're standing in the thick of it and you still find it hard to believe?" Jean said, giving Remy a sidelong glance while walking beside him.

"Okay, okay," Remy said, "I guess I'm going to find out some of the bad things about her while were here."

A few moments later, they came across one of those bad things.  
It was another mental picture, like the fantasy from earlier, but this time there was no door for it to hide behind. So before them was Molly as a tiger and a grizzly and a bunch of other big predatory animals, attacking Magneto over and over again.  
His face was bruised and his body was battered and bleeding. Finally Molly changed back to human and leaned over to Magnetos ear. Her voice was a whisper, but in the stunned silenced it was loud enough. "You're paying for what you did to him now."

The four of them watched as the mental image played itself over again, like a blood curdling DVD rewound. They just walked past it without a word.

"You look pale," Kitty said of Remy.

"I think we all look pale after that," Remy said, "I mean, jeez! I really wasn't expecting..."

"I don't think any of us were," Jean said.

Everyone knew that Molly had blamed herself and felt guilty for the Professor being missing,  
but none of them had any idea how deep her feelings against Magneto for doing it ran.  
Remy realized that he had to make peace with it. The little fact that Molly had some very dark parts to her that even she kept hidden away from herself.  
Everyone did and she wasn't any exception, no matter how much Remy loved her, he knew that he couldn't change that about Molly.  
It would always be a part of her, just like things like that were a part of him. A part of everyone.  
What mattered was acting on those deep inner feelings. If Molly were to torture Magneto or even kill him, only then could Remy say that he didn't know who she was anymore. As long as she could keep all those deep, malicious inner thoughts in check and locked away and not act on them, then that was all that mattered.

"This is probably a part that she doesn't think about much anyway," Jean said, "It isn't anything to worry about. Molly is still Molly. Even if there are things like that floating around her head, she's still our friend. We already accept the good and bad things about her, so we should be able to accept the worst of her too."

Quiet murmurs of agreement swept through them. No matter what, it was going to take a little while to work past what they had seen. Now that they had seen that, they weren't thrilled about what else was awaiting them in this dark corner of Molly's mind.

"AROOOOOOOOOOoooooooo!"

Kitty jumped a mile, the fear obvious in her sky blue eyes, then she started running. She stopped mid-run.  
"Sorry. I forgot that Mr. McCoy told us not to run."

"We're going to be just fine," Jean said, "This part of Molly's brain isn't going to last forever."

"Sure it's not," Kurt rolled his shiny yellow eyes, as they glowed a little in the darkness.

"It's not," Remy said, "We're probably going to run into puppies, kittens, plush tigers and cotton candy fields any time now. Molly isn't a dark person by nature."

"Oh yeah?" Kitty pointed up ahead, "Tell that to the pit of snakes."

A few yards ahead of them was a long, deep dirt pit of very loud hissing snakes with a wood bridge going across the pit. The snakes inside had long fangs dripping venom and hungry eyes that were as black as midnight.  
Their scaly skin came in bright warning colors, like black and red, yellow, orange and deep gold as they slithered over and under each other in droves. It was enough to make Remys skin crawl.

"It's just a bridge," Remy said, "We'll just go right acro-"  
He was cut off when the snakes started leaping up, clearing fifteen feet and arching their heads out to bite the air.

"What kind of place is this?" Kurt was horrified, "Molly's mind is...it's terrifying!"

"Well you know what they say," Remy grinned, "It's always the quiet ones. We just have to think of a plan."

Within a few minutes, they had devised a plan. Without powers, they didn't have much to work with, but they did have trees.  
They broke off some branches and started running like the calvary in the middle of a seemingly hopeless war.

WHAPWHAPWHAPWHAP!

The snakes went flying in all directions, slithering away quickly. Okay, so batting them aside with branches and sticks wasn't their usual high tech plan, but at least it was effective.

"We better stop and rest a minute," Jean said once they were at the other end of the bridge, "I know it didn't seem like much, but that spent some energy."

They sat and rested for a little bit. "Well this is fun," Kitty said, "Disturbing imagery, jumping snakes,  
what's next? A guy with a chainsaw in a mask?"

"Don't say stuff like that!" Kurt said, "You might be right. Who knows what else were going to find in here."

"...Like the glowing eyes off in the distance there?" Remy pointed.

The glowing eyes receded back into the darkness. "Let's keep going," Jean said in a worried, tense voice betraying her usual calm demeanor.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer:I don't own X-Men:Evolution, just myself (Called Molly Callum in 'fics.)  
and any original characters/background characters that might pop up from time to time.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Kitty jerked at one of the various noises coming from the forest.

"Pull yourself together," Kurt said.

"I can't help it," Kitty said, "I hate the dark."

"I don't think any of us love it right now," Remy said.

"Shh," Jean said, "I heard something."

"Serial killers?" Kitty fretted, looking genuinely worried.

"I think it sounds like a...a stampede! MOVE!" Jean yelled.

The four of them scrambled to get up in the trees, the bark scraping against their hands, making them burn with pain.  
They got as high as they needed, clinging to the branches desperately because underneath them was a zoo rushing past.  
Iguanas, elephants, horses, dogs, tigers, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, cats, cheetahs, bears, gorillas and more. Everything Molly could turn into, but in multiples for some unknown reason. Perhaps symbolic to the number of times Molly had turned into the animal or something, but Remy didn't have time to think about it, because another thought came to his mind.

"Uhh," He said slowly, "You know the only reason animals stampede is because something is chasing them, right?"

"Oh crap," Jean said uncharacteristically.

Not three seconds later, the ever memorable spinosauraus came tearing through the trees, bellowing for all to hear.  
It's giant, bulky body smashed through everything, snapping felled trees like toothpicks and whipping it's tail about with strength in a show of dominance. The kids watched as it caught up to the stampede, swallowing even the strongest animals by the mouthful with its long toothy snout. Gorillas, tigers and horses were all gulped down mercilessly.

"I wonder what that could symbolize?" Kitty said in a whisper.

"Who. Cares!" Kurt snapped , "I'd rather _not_ die in here and wake up knowing dinosaur-Molly _ate_ me!" With a few giant sized strides, the spinosaurus was far enough away to be seen, but-they hoped-not see them.

Everyone was a bit taken aback at Kurts sudden attitude, but on the other hand, no one could blame him either. This place was putting everyone on edge. They waited a few moments before the herd and the spinosaurus were completely out of sight until climbing back down to the ground.

"Maybe we should take another rest," Remy suggested, "Try to calm down a minute."

Everyone agreed, almost collapsing inside a cluster of trees to stay hidden from anything else in the forest.  
"What are we going to do when all this is over with?" Kitty said, "We're not just going to forget everything we've seen."

"We're going to..." Kurt let it hang.

"What?" Remy stared at Kurt with empty eyes, "You want to send Molly to therapy? Have her committed?  
You keep forgetting that this is just the projection of the astral plane. It's only giving us things in a tangible form that we can understand. Molly isn't as psychotic killer and she's just as sane as the rest of us. I know what we're seeing is horrific at times, but if the situation were reversed,  
I can guarantee you that if Molly were in our situation and she was in one of our minds, things would be much the same. We're only human and everyone has subconscious thoughts lurking, both good and bad."

Remy didn't feel happy about reading Kurt so well, because it depressed him that even upset, Kurt was obviously very frightened of Molly when there wasn't any need to be. At least, not really.

Kitty hugged Kurt hard. "Remy is right. You don't have to be scared of Molly because she just isn't going to hurt you or any of us. We could hurt each other if we all really wanted to, but we don't because we're all friends and we love each other, right?"

"...Right," Kurt agreed slowly.

"So even if Molly's mind has a dark spot, that doesn't mean she's out to hurt us. If she really wanted to, she could have done it already. You know that. Molly just wants to have friends and be happy and do good in the world. That's all," Kitty said.

Kurt looked at Remy. "I'm _very_ sorry for what I said."

"It happens," Remy said simply. He was upset, but later the two of them could talk about it alone.  
Remy usually wasn't one to hold a grudge against a friend, but it wasn't fair of Kurt to react so strongly either for someone who took a lot of things in stride.

They tried to relax in the quiet stillness of the dark forest for a few minutes more, then starting to walk again without a word. After the blow up they all remained quiet for some time.

They found themselves coming upon another scene of abject misery in a short amount of time.  
Now it wasn't Magneto being tortured, but Ray.

They soon saw that Ray wasn't being tortured so much as abjectly humiliated.  
"Just how many ways can I embarrass you? Make you feel useless and stupid and hated for no reason?" 'Molly' smiled in a completely dark and twisted sort of way as she stood in front of 'Ray', on his knees, hands shackled.  
"I'm sorry," Ray whimpered, "I'll be _nice_ to you. I'll...I'll do whatever you want."

"You had your chance to be nice," 'Molly' hissed, "and you blew it."

They watched as 'Ray' was covered in syrup and feathers, then had water dumped on him, and food thrown at him, splattering to the ground and dripping from his face. All while 'Molly' yelled at him, calling him names. Calling him an idiot, hopeless, mean, ungrateful. Everything in the book.  
It wasn't a pretty sight as he broke down crying, his nose running, then just outright _sobbing_.  
It wasn't just pathetic, it was heart wrenching. No matter how mean Ray treated Molly in real life, this didn't seem balanced. Didn't seem fair. Except in Molly's subconscious, Ray deserved every bit of abuse that he got.

"I wonder if there's anything in store for me?" Remy wondered, "I mean, we haven't always been on good terms."

"We'll have to see," Jean said, "Except Ray's treatment of Molly seems to be ongoing,  
so that's why were seeing this. What you did to Molly is past tense, not present, so I'd think you would be okay."

Remy decided that it might be good to finally have a talk with Ray about how he treated Molly, especially if it was going to bother Molly _this_ much.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer:I don't own X-Men:Evolution, just myself (Called Molly Callum in 'fics.)  
and any original characters/background characters that might pop up from time to time.

* * *

The four of them kept walking, to find that the dark and frightening place was starting to brighten up, but Remy had a feeling that they weren't out of trouble yet. His instincts were right because a few seconds later he was laying face down in the gravel with the wind knocked out of him. He struggled to turn himself around, to try to escape or fight off whatever had attacked him. When he could look up again he was facing an absolutely massive tiger. Easily the size of a bus from head to end, with a huge tail waving around like an oversized whip.  
It was snarling fiercly and hissing, its breath blowing Remys hair back and making his face moist. Mollys favorite morph was guarding the last of her subconscious from anything. It stood to reason. Now they just had to convince it they weren't here to do any harm.

"Remy...?" Kitty said worriedly as the rest of them looked on.

"I'm fine," Remy said, "We just need to get it to relax so it'll let us through."

"Relax, right," Kurt said with a roll of his eyes.

Remy slowly pulled himself out from underneath the tiger, careful not to make any sudden moves. The tiger was eyeing all of them with intense focus, but hadn't made any move to hurt anyone yet, even when Remy moved. It was odd. "I think it knows we're Mollys friends," Jean said.

The tiger sat down and just stared at them.  
"I think you might be right," Remy smiled. He calmly walked up to the tiger.  
"It's a nice kitty," Remy reached out to pet it.

The tiger swiped at Remy's arm and Remy pulled back a bloody stump.  
"AAA-" Kitty started to scream, but Kurt quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.  
"It's okay, it's okay!" Jean reassured them, "He's fine. That didn't _really_ happen."  
Remys de-tatched hand on the ground disappeared into nothingness.

"Good, because that would've ruined my whole day," Remy tore off some of his shirt and wrapped up his injured arm. Not that he was _really_ bleeding or anything, he realized as he rolled his eyes silently at the ridiculousness of it all, but the imagined blood dripping was gross.

"Okay, so what are we going to _do_?" Kurt asked, "We have to be getting close if this is what's in our way."

The kids suddenly felt useless without their powers. Snakes had been one thing, but this was completely different.  
They stood around and thought about it as the tiger watched them, not moving from its spot. It would have been comical if the situation hadn't been serious.

"Hey," Kitty said, "technically we're dreaming, right?"

"Yes," Jean said.

"So doesn't that mean we can create things since were aware of what's going on? Like in a lucid dream where you know you're dreaming?" Kitty started looking excited.

Remy, frustrated, ran his good hand over his face, "Kitty, why didn't you realize that earlier?"

"I'm a genius, but I don't know everything about everything," Kitty shot back.

"I'm sorry, okay," Remy said, "It feels like we've been in here for hours. It's getting old."

"Well anyway, Kitty's right. So we could imagine something to distract it," Jean said in a hushed voice.

"Like a big, tempting antelope," Kurt said. He closed his eyes and concentrated and slowly an antelope big enough for the tiger to hunt appeared. The antelope took one look at the tiger and started running as fast as its legs would carry it. The tiger gave into its instincts and gave chase to the prey animal, not giving the kids a second thought.  
"That was a little too easy," Jean observed.

"We'll worry about that later," Remy said, "We're almost there."

They walked, soon completely out of the forest, and reached another door. It was unmarked. Just a big brown,  
oval shaped door with a golden colored doorknob. Ordinary looking. Jean opened it and they walked inside. "Okay," Kurt said, "I'm sure to have some weird dreams after this."  
They were surrounded by pictures and video screens of Remy. Not just floor to ceiling, but also _on_ the floor and ceiling. To the nearest right there was a door with a white, hot light shining out of it from a small window. Straight ahead there was another wooden door without a window.  
"I wonder what's in there?" Remy was inexpiably drawn to the room with the window. He looked inside, but the light was blinding and harsh. If there was anything inside it, he couldn't see it. Best to forget about it and move on. His curiosity wasn't going to completely overtake him again when they were so close to rescuing Molly.

They walked, trying very hard not to run, to the last door. Remy flung it open with his good hand and they found Molly in a black steel cage.  
the room was completely devoid of light, so much that not even a floor could be seen. No one cared, they just made their way over. Molly was asleep. Not too surprising. "Molly! We're here, wake up!" Remy said loudly. "Oh," Molly yawned, "I was so worried, then I guess I just fell asleep. Thanks for coming to save me guys."

"There's no lock?" Jean said of the cage.

"Nope. It's weird," Molly said. She open the cage door and stepped out.  
"It's the door I had to worry about, really. That locked from the inside for me. I was just staying in the cage in case anything bad happened."

Molly then stared at Remys injured arm.  
"Your hand is...it's gone!"

"It's okay. It's not really gone. We're inside your head, so nothing that happens here is real," Remy reassured her.  
"I _guess_ that makes me feel better," Molly said, furrowing her brow and gritting her teeth while avoiding eye contact and just staring at Remys severed hand.

The door was still wide open. "Okay, lets go," Remy said.  
The second the words were out of his mouth, the tiger came rushing out of the darkness, roaring loudly enough to make everyone cover their ears.

"I don't think we're leaving just yet!" Kurt quipped.

"Wait," Molly said, "This is _my_ head, so it has to listen to me."

"Uh, Cherie, don't get ahead of yourself. It took off my hand, and you know how you feel about me," Remy said.

"Yeah, but that's different. I should be its master," Molly went up to the tiger bravely-or stupidly, depending on how one saw the situation. "Now you'd better listen to me," Molly said sternly, shoving a finger into its chest, "You're part of _me_, so there's no good reason for you to protect my head right now. My friends are here trying to save me and all you did was hurt them.  
Bad! That's _Bad_!"

The tiger ignored the tongue lashing and instead reacted like any animal would-reached out and tried to attack with one long swipe of it's enormous paw. Molly backed up at light speed with only a hairs width of a scratch on her uniform.

"Okay, I was wrong. Run!" Molly ordered. They ran as fast as possible with the tiger in hot pursuit,  
running for their lives, slamming the door behind them the second they got through it. White as sheets,  
they were relived to have a secure barrier between themselves and the monstrous beast.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, um, I'm ready to go home now," Molly took Remy and Kittys hands. They all joined hands.  
Moments later, Remy found himself waking up back in the infirmary. He was whole again. He quickly ripped off his electrodes and ran into the next room where Molly was awake and waiting for him. He grabbed her and kissed her with a thousand volts of emotion. "I'm _fine_. It was a mental thing, not physical," Molly protested. "I know, but I'm just happy to have you back," Remy said.

"Can we get a hug in too?" Kitty stood on the other side of the bed with Jean and Kurt. "Yeah, thanks. I'm glad everyone helped out," Molly said as they all hugged.

Scott came in, "Glad you're awake Molly, but we really need you now."

"No way," Remy protested, "She's been through a lot. A couple days rest won't hurt."

"Sorry, but we don't have a couple of days. Magneto is meeting up with his special client today. It can't wait," Scott said.

Remy was about to argue with Scott when Molly broke in.  
"I told you I'm fine. I can rest later. This is really important, okay Remy?"

"...Alright, but I'm going as backup," Remy said.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer:I don't own X-Men:Evolution, just myself (Called Molly Callum in 'fics.)  
and any original characters/background characters that might pop up from time to time.

* * *

Molly was crawling the inside of a bookcase as a green anole lizard. The bookcase was located in the back room of a gentlemans meeting hall just outside of New York City. She was alert and ready to listen in on the conversation. She could see a dark haired man sitting in a chair along with a few associates also sitting, waiting for Magneto.

"It's almost two, where could he be?" a portly red headed man said.

"Patience, he'll be here," The dark haired man said.

"Sebastian," A handsome blond man with an artificial arm whined, "You said that an hour ago."

"You'll have to forgive me," Magneto said entering the room with who the X-men had identified with Pietro's help as Rock slide (the walking mountain) and Darkness (the kid with the black wings), "I was held up with another...appointment."

"Please have a seat," Sebastian offered. Magneto didn't bother sitting.  
"Mister Shaw, it's late. I'd like to make this short and to the point," Magneto said, "The X-Men are becoming a thorn in my side and I have other things to worry about. if you could terminate them for me, I'll pay you two million dollars. That's enough, isn't it?"

"Wouldn't you like to see what my inner Circle can do first?" Mr. Shaw offered.

Molly saw the redheaded man take a pencil and drop it. The pencil went through the wood floor, like he'd dropped a led weight, leaving a huge hole.  
The blonde man crushed the arm of the nearest chair, turning it into sawdust in seconds. They were formidable, to say the least.

"That would be pleasant, but we've been watching you for several weeks now," Magneto said, "We're well aware of what your team can do. So do we have a deal or not?"

Mr. Shaw thought it over for a moment. "I have one condition. Jean Grey. I know what she can do. I'd rather not kill her.  
I want her with us."

"You're certain you can control her?" Magneto questioned.

"I'm positive," Sebastian smiled wickedly.

If Molly had been human, her mouth would have been hanging open, then she would have been saying things like 'Holy crap!', but at the moment she was just thankful that she didn't have telepathy as a secondary power.  
She was also thankful that Jean had chosen to stay behind on this mission to rest. Besides, telepaths could detect other telepaths and that would have blown their cover, so Jean would have had to stay regardless.

"Alright," Magneto said, "You can have young miss Grey. We have a deal then?"

"Yes," Sebastian said. The two men shook on it, "Would you like some wine to celebrate?" Sebastian asked.

"No, I'm afraid I have to leave, but thank you," Magneto said.

Molly made her way out the way she'd come through an open window in the room.  
Cyclops and Gambit were outside waiting for her.

The second Molly was human again she started blabbing a mile a minute.  
"They want Jean! I can't believe it! They control her and the game is over! Were all completely scr-" Remy clamped a hand over Mollys mouth.

Remy motioned for her to be quiet. If anyone heard them, they were going to be so dead. Literally.

They rushed back to the Blackbird.

"Okay, now," Cyclops said.

"Magneto's hiring some guy named Sebastian Shaw to _kill_ us with his team, The Inner Circle.  
And Shaw wants Jean. We all know how powerful Jean is, so we can't let them have her!" Molly said.

"As if we don't have enough to worry about," Gambit groaned, looking up at the ceiling, clearly upset by this new development.

"We're just going to have to work it all out," Cyclops said.

"Yeah. I mean, it's a little insulting that Magneto doesn't want to off us himself.  
He's hiring someone to do it. I guess he's got better things to do," Gambit said.

"Well trying to overthrow the Government must take a lot of time and planning," Molly said sarcastically,  
"He probably can't sleep at night."

Gambit bit his lip, hearing an edge to Mollys voice.  
"Um...Molly...tell me the truth," Gambit looked her in the eyes, "We saw some things in your head that weren't pretty. If you had Magneto alone, would you try to hurt him?"

"I...I don't know," Molly said, "Maybe some part of me wants to. I guess part of me _does_ if you saw something in my head. I just don't know if I could really do anything to him. If I ever did, I know there wouldn't be any coming back from that. Even if I didn't do something so horrible like kill him,  
I couldn't live with myself knowing that I'd done something awful to another person. Sometimes I scare myself.  
I really don't know what to tell you Remy. I just hope it doesn't come to that."

"You want to know what I think?" Cyclops said.

"Not really," Remy said dryly.

"I think that there's enough good in you to overcome any wrong desires you might have," Scott said,  
"You're a good person, Molly. None of us like what Magneto is doing, that's true, but all of us have been taught by Professor Xavier to treat others with love and kindness, no matter what wrongs they done to us. That's what the school-what the X-Men-are all about."

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's not very realistic," Remy said, "Any of us could snap. It just depends on what we do in those few seconds between making the choice to do a good thing or a bad thing. Everyone has bad thoughts sometimes, but not everyone does bad things."

"I think you're both right," Molly said, "And I'm sorry if what you all saw in my head scared you Remy. I mean, you were in my subconscious. None of us knew what was in there, least of all me."

"It's okay," Remy said, "I'll get over it. I've been through a lot."

Cyclops started up the jet and they made their way home.  
"So what else did you see inside my head? I want to know," Molly smiled excitedly.

"Yes," Scott said, "What else _did_ you see Remy?"

"Lots of doors," Remy said simply.

"Remy," Molly gave him a light shove, laughing.

"I don't like that answer, LeBeau," Scott glared into the rearview mirror.

"What? I saw lots of doors!" Remy protested.

"We are going to have a very _long_ conversation when we get home," Molly growled, reminding Remy of a small angry cat the way her eyes glared through him.

Eventually Molly fell asleep on Remys shoulder in the middle of the ride home. Remy watched her sleep, knowing that he wouldn't let her go off the deep end if he could help it and getting the feeling that Scott had been right. Molly was good. It didn't mean she couldn't do bad things, but that she was simply less likely to, even when under pressure.  
Remy was going to be there when Molly needed him, just like he always had been.


End file.
